


i might be hoping about this

by Roses_and_rain



Category: Campaign (Podcast)
Genre: Bickering, Other, Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-23
Updated: 2020-05-23
Packaged: 2021-03-02 19:14:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 792
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24331912
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Roses_and_rain/pseuds/Roses_and_rain
Summary: "I've gone two hundred years without doing math, you're not tricking me into it now.""You're useless, you know that?"
Relationships: Gable & Travis Matagot, Gable/Travis Matagot
Comments: 11
Kudos: 46





	i might be hoping about this

Gable’s never had a head for numbers. Regardless, people keep giving them stacks of paperwork and no one else has stepped in as quartermaster since the position became unexpectedly available. So they find themself trying to calculate the coal they’ll need to reach Wolfstooth on a rainy afternoon that might otherwise be pleasant. Of course, it’s not helped by the fact that Travis has made it his mission to ensure that even in the captain’s quarters, Gable can’t get a minute of silence.

“That doesn’t look right,” he says, leaning across the desk to inspect their work upside down.

“Then you do it,” Gable retorts, pushing the paper away in disgust.

“Absolutely not! I’ve gone two hundred years without doing math, you’re not tricking me into it now.”

“You’re useless, you know that?”

“Really, because I seem to remember a jailbreak that definitely required the help of a certain snake."

"Please, you never would have gotten out of there without me to fight our way out."

"Excuse you, I could have gotten out any time I wanted, remember? Besides, _I_ never claimed _you_ were useless..."

Gable tries to refocus on the inventory as Travis talks. They really should just make Spit do this, but they’ve put so much time into it now…

“Are you even listening to me?” Travis demands. “You always do this, you’re always so busy with your big mysterious - ”

“Shut up!” Gable snaps, and regrets it immediately, seeing him stiffen and pull back from them before he can don his carefully casual demeanor again.

“Sorry, I just - give me, like, five minutes and _then_ be as insufferable as you want, okay? I need to figure this out.”

“Well, you’re not getting anywhere,” Travis says coolly. “You’ve been staring at that paper for half an hour. And the ship does have a crew, you know; I’m sure it’d survive if the all-powerful protector took a break for a little while.”

His voice drips with sarcasm, but Gable’s had more than enough time to learn to listen for the truth beneath. They wonder, not for the first time, what would happen if they called him on it, if they asked him to care without pretense for once. Probably nothing good.

Gable puts their head down on the desk.

“I wanted to take care of it," they say, surprised at how tired they sound.

They hear footsteps and the clatter of a paperweight falling to the floor as Travis perches himself on the desk.

“Your hair’s a mess,” he says softly.

Gable feels his fingers tugging, birdlike, at the tangles in their hair. They feel like they might be violating some clause in the unwritten contract of their friendship by not protesting such open gentleness, but if Travis has decided to forego their usual barbs, Gable’s content to let him.

They sit and listen to the rain patter against the ship’s hull and Travis plays with their hair.

They almost kissed him once. It was on the island, after the fight with Calavar and the rest. Gable had won, of course, but Travis had been wounded more badly than they’d ever seen him, coyote fur stained scarlet, and when the sun finally rose and the sound of cracking bones shook Gable out of a half-asleep reverie, he’d sauntered over with the smuggest grin, just waiting to laugh at them for worrying.

Gable had grabbed him by the shoulders to say the things you say to a friend who doesn’t show any kind of concern for the safety of his still-sort-of-mortal body just because he thinks his stupid curse is always going to protect him, and sure enough, Travis had laughed in the face of their tirade. And then Gable had finished talking and Travis had stopped laughing, and they were still holding him. And they must have looked a second too long or a little too close, and they saw - there was something close to fear in Travis’s eyes, and Gable’s faced fear from so many people in their life, and they couldn’t stand it from him.

So they’d let go, and Travis had walked away.

Gable wakes up in the captain’s cabin with a crick in their neck. The rain has stopped and through the porthole they can see that night has fallen.

Travis is nowhere to be seen, but the words “you’re welcome” are scrawled at the top of the coal inventory. Gable glances at the sheet of paper beside it, covered in their confused calculations, and sees no new answer there. Running a hand through their hair in annoyance, they find neat, narrow braids mingled with the loose strands.

“Useless,” they mutter, though they know Travis won’t hear it. It’s probably for the best, as they sound terribly fond.

**Author's Note:**

> Title from "From Eden". I might add to this in a bit if I can figure out where I want it to go from here.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [i might be hoping about this [podfic]](https://archiveofourown.org/works/28694382) by [DrowningInStarlight](https://archiveofourown.org/users/DrowningInStarlight/pseuds/DrowningInStarlight)




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